My recent French trip 'Le Carnage'

Myself and DanF1234 have just got back from 10 days touring France, so here's a snippit from our adventures...

The actual adventure started for both of us the day before as i'd ordered a set of trident slash cut cans which arrived at 11.55am on the 31st. Dan's aftermarket triumph exhaust had started blowing wadding out the back so he had to go to his local dealer straight off a 12hr night shift.

Anyhow,so grabbed my nephew to help and immediately started fitting them, rang Triumph about the race TOR map download which is essential for these cans, anyway they said no problem, get to them before 4pm (25 mins ride away) and they will get it done.



I got back at 5.15pm and all sorted

Day1, 01.09.2011
Dan arrives at my house at 7.20am, wife does us a brew and some toast to keep us going
I get bike panniers and top box loaded, get my gear on and were ready to offski.








Once off the ferry, we jumped on the A26 toll road out of Calais to try and make some good time.
We were aiming for a campsite in Chalons du champagne, south of Reims, we made it at 7.30pm but we was bloody exhausted
This was a municipal campsite, which was much better than most average ones in the UK and dead cheap which was a bonus.

Few beers and bed for me, Dan as always, had a few for the road

[garynortheast]

Don't leave it there - I was just settling in for a good read about your trip and I'm stuck at the campsite now!

Next Day we headed down towards Annecy but did think this was optimistic for us so was going to see how far we could get and then make a decision to camp or push on.

We got going, no problems really, Dan had a couple of near misses with riding on the wrong side of the road lol
It got to dinner time and we were starving so as we are nearing Dijon, we see a lidl supermarket, that'll do we agreed.
Pulled into the car park, took of our lids and tank bags as these had the more expensive items in, mine alone over a grands worth of camera.
We took the lids and tank bags in the store with us, grabbed our booty, which consisted of a sandwich and salad for me, Dan similar, got to the till and the woman is going on about something in French and pointing at our bags, i know a few bits of French and can mostly make out some words that people speak even if i dont understand them but couldnt on this occasion, to our amazement, we discover... She wanted to SEARCH OUR BAGS !!! In LIDL FFS !!!

Insult over, we scoff the food in the carpark which was was very nice as it happens, an English Guy turns up on a Gladius, have a chat for a bit, hes trying to find the local F1 hotel, we havent a clue so he rides away.
Dan looks at his satnav a few mins later and its listed on there as only being 1.4 miles away (sorry dude).
We get loaded back up and hit the road, this is where the day went a bit Pete Tong, our route recalculated and took us through the centre of Dijon, what a mistake that was, roadworks everywhere, traffic lights everywhere, mega busy and 31 degrees sunshine in full leather.
It took us over an hour to try and navigate through it and round it, some of the roads were blocked that we was supposed to take so we ended up going round in circles, this was the nearest we'd both came to fainting through the heat, it was unbearable and something i wouldnt want to experience again tbh, avoid Dijon if you go folks

We finally got to a campsite just south of Dijon around 5pm at a town called Seurre, the municipal campsite cost 3.50 euros a night each, what a bargain.



Dans exhaust had been rattling like something was in the end can so once camped we stripped it down



Nothing in there so re assembled and had a few beers.
I broke out the hip flask of southern comfort and boy did i pay next day

Next day we had to get to Annecy to have any chance of staying on schedule, so feeling rough we go to the local supermarket to get some food, i load up on red bull but feel like crap, my shoulder is giving me grief as well from the previous 2 days riding so cover myself in deepheat and take strong painkillers.
Off we trot, first day of proper twisties, im struggling being honest but just kept going.
We stopped at a macdees en route in the mountains somewhere and had a big tasty meal, god it felt good
Arrive in Annecy town, its pi55ing it down, very busy traffic.



Campsite is on a massive slope, we had to pitch tents in the rain, which wasnt pleasant, i kept rolling down hill in my sleeping bag lol
We go out for some scoff in the town, beautiful place, very busy and expensive in most places but worth seeing.
Most alcoholic drinks are over 5 euros, some are much more.

The next few days im not going to bore you with so will just post the pics up, we were heading for verdon gorge but stopped halfway at alp du heuz, a ski resort in the winter time.
What a campsite this was, about 10 euros a nights but the facilities were top notch, washing machines, dryers, pool table, sinks for washing clothes etc, really nice site, defo revist here as they had wooden cabins to rent



En route we headed over some mountain passes, had lunch in this cafe at the top of Col de Glandon





This is where we found each other after getting lost, helps when you both have the route, this is also where Dan had to retrieve my earplug which had gone so far in my ear he could hardly see it, tweezers were used as it was the only thing that would get a purchase on it.



More to follow as im taking the wife for a meal tonight

Public FB pics to keep you interested...

Fantastic - I can't wait to go back. Those piccy's of Annecy are pretty good. I think the best sights I saw there were right outside the pizza restaurant.

Just having one for the road now lol.

Don't mention a word about ****ing Garmin or Italy either Phillip!

Looks awesome fellas! Can't wait for the next installment.

[Shellywoozle]

Looks like you had a great time guys, glad you back safe and sound x

Oh we did Shell it was awesome. I want to go back next year already! Come on Phil where's the next installment! lol

Don't forget to mention "Buy a Garmin and See the World"